ALWAYS REFORMING: A sinner saved by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone adhering to Scripture alone to bring about reform personally, for his family, church, and world to the glory of God alone.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

I loathe the bus.

We often thing of certain vocations as being those that are in the category of heroes, for example firefighters, police officers, and military personnel.

I don't disagree, but those are also all jobs that I personally wouldn't mind doing. In fact, I would enjoy them.

But what about the "unsung" heroes?

What about those who do jobs that are necessary, unglamorous, underpaid, and generally a beating?

I thought of one such job this morning as I went with my daughter's 1st grade class on a field trip.

Boarding the bus I struck up a good conversation with the driver, donned in a lovely Aggie hat. My nerves were nearly shot by the time we arrived at our destination some 30 minutes or so later. Yet, the driver was still friendly with the kids and adults.

He repeated the same process on the return trip.

I thought to myself: "No way they could pay me enough to do this job, including the whip of driving around such a mammoth beast. Yet, how many of these folks are out there, picking up kids in the early AM (ours get on the bus at 0645) fulfilling a great need?"

As a student I hated the bus, especially in high school. I still loathe the bus. One of the high points of high school was when Joey's grandpa gave him a truck so we could opt out of the bus. Amen, Oil?

So, until the 6th of November 2007 I had no appreciation for the unsung hero of the school bus driver. But, for those about to roll, we salute you.

Are there other such "unsung heroes" out there? What can we do to show our appreciation?

Isn't God good? He gives us all different desires. I would hate to be a nurse, yet many nurses love their jobs. I would hate to work at a fast food restaurant, yet I have seen employees who actually enjoy their work. There are many jobs that I would loathe, yet God gives some the desire to do just such jobs. I'm grateful to God for diversity. And I also agree, we ought to appreciate more those who do things that make our lives better and/or easier.

Amen on the Joey T Thomas mobile - old red Ford Sanford & Son truck. Even though we had to ride in the back so Joey's siblings could ride in the front, and even though we had to push it to get it started, it was still greatness to be delivered from the pain of the bus. Plus, we had a great time surfing in the back, until the heat pulled us over at the stale spot, which really diminished our freshness.

On the bus, I am picturing you as the Chris Farley bus driver character in Billy Madison - all red faced with anger & frustration and ready to explode. Hilarious, but that would be me too. There is little else that is more of a whipping than a bus full of public school kids rising up and playing.